Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better
by Laer Aerlinn
Summary: Rikku was a competitive little girl. Anyone who lived in Bikanel would attest to that. Never one to settle for second place, she always fought her hardest to win, especially when the challenge was set by Gippal. ONESHOT.


**Summary**: Rikku was a competitive little girl. Anyone who lived in Bikanel would attest to that. Never one to settle for second place, she always fought her hardest to win, especially when the challenge was set by Gippal.

**Disclaimer**: Nope, don't own Final Fantasy X-2. Them folks at Square-Enix do.

**Author's Notes**: Whee! Another RikkuGippal one-shot! They're kids, maybe about 9 or 10 years old.

**Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better**

Rikku was an extremely competitive little girl. Anyone who lived in the small island community of Bikanel would attest to that. Never one to settle for second place, she always fought her hardest to win, especially when the challenge was set by one young boy in particular: Gippal. Rarely a day went by when the two of them weren't seen climbing trees or skipping rocks along the nearby river; all in the name of good, old-fashioned competition of course.

And this day was no different. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and once again Rikku and Gippal were standing on the back of the Tacdeho River, skipping stones over the water's smooth surface.

"Ha!" Rikku exclaimed as she watched her stone bounce lightly over the water's surface, ripples blossoming with every skip. Smiling, she turned to Gippal. "Betcha can't beat that."

"Oh yeah? Watch this." Gippal closed his eyes and tossed a nice flat stone. It had barely left his hand before sinking into the water's depths with a dull _plunk_.

Rikku giggled. "Nice try, Gippal."

"Tch, that was just a fluke! I wasn't concentrating, that's all!"

Rikku shook her head. "Just face it Gippal. Anything you can do, I can do better."

Gippal knew the sound of a challenge when he heard one. And he certainly wasn't going to lose, especially not to a girl like Rikku. "You're on."

They both began searching along the bank for more stones to toss. Once they had filled their arms with as many stones as they could carry, the contest began.

"13 skips!" Gippal exclaimed, his eyes dancing wildly as he counted his stone's jumps.

"14 skips!" Rikku countered, watching her stone skim gently across the water.

"18!"

"19!"

"Aw, 10!"

"14!"

"16!"

"20 skips!"

As Gippal bent down to reach for another stone he groaned, realizing that he didn't have any left And Rikku had beaten him on every single throw.

"Ha ha ha!" Rikku laughed. "See I told you Gippal. Any stone you can skip, I can skip farther! I can skip any stone farther than you!"

"Yeah, well…" Gippal scampered up the bank and started climbing up the nearest tree. "Any tree you can climb, I can climb higher! I can climb any tree higher than you!"

"No, you can't!" Rikku shouted, immediately abandoning her little pile of stones and following Gippal up the bank. She clamored up an identical tree next to Gippal's and they both began scrambling upwards. Leaves fell to the ground as the two youngsters grabbed hold of the branches that would get them the furthest.

"Ha ha! Yes, I can!" Gippal announced, steadying himself on a large branch above Rikku.

"No, you can- Whoa!" Rikku cried as she lost her footing and tumbled to the ground. Luckily she was only a few feet above it. "Owie…"

"Hey, are you okay?" Gippal asked, climbing down to check on Rikku.

Rikku rubbed her ankle. "Yeah…"

Gippal smiled triumphantly and made a peace sign with his fingers. "I win!"

"Hmm," Rikku pouted as she slowly got to her feet. Suddenly she sprinted off towards the village. Looking back towards Gippal, she grinned. "You can't catch me! 'Cause anywhere you can run, I can run faster! I can run anywhere faster than you!"

"Argh! No you can't! Get back here, Rikku!"

In a flash, Gippal darted after her. They weaved in and out of the trees until at last they saw the village in the distance.

"Where're we running to?" Gippal asked, panting as he struggled to keep up with Rikku. That fall certainly didn't faze her.

"Benzo's shed!"

Gippal groaned. Benzo's shed was on the far side of the village and he was already running out of steam. Rikku planned this. She must have. She _knew_ he was terrible at running long distances. He shook his head. '_Can't let her win'_ he thought as he willed his legs to move faster. But Rikku was still too fast. She and her scrawny legs were nearly half-way to the shed and Gippal was quickly falling behind.

"Ha! I win!" Rikku exclaimed as she touched the wall of the shed. Gippal collapsed from exhaustion. "You should know better than to challenge the Great Rikku!"

Gippal slowly got to his feet, his breath coming in short gasps. How could Rikku have managed to win? We'll if she thought he was going to just lie down and accept defeat, she didn't know him at all! But what could he do?

"Wait," he said, slowly regaining his breath, an idea coming to him. "How about we have one more competition, one that will decide who's the ultimate champ?"

"Fine. Whatever it is, I'll win anyway!"

"All right then…" Gippal replied, but there was just one problem. He had no idea what this challenge would be! But he had to think up one quick. "You have to let me kiss you!"

Rikku stared at him, surprise evident on her face. Gippal blushed. He had no idea what made him say _that_ of all things. But she would never let him do it, right? And then he would be the winner...

"F-fine. You wouldn't do that anyway!"

What? She really going to let him do this? Because he would, she should know that, but was it really because he wanted to win their stupid competition?

"Close your eyes," he said, his heart beginning to beat faster and a light blush spreading across his face.

Rikku obeyed, she too blushing furiously. Was he really going to do it? Was he really going to kiss her?

Gippal slowly inched his way toward her lips, his heart pounding like a drum.

Their lips connected. The kiss itself lasted for less than a second before Gippal pulled away, his face now a deep red.

"I-I guess you win," Rikku said breathlessly, the blush still on her face.

"Yeah, I guess I do," he answered.

They stood there awkwardly, not really knowing what to say to one another. Gippal kissed her, Rikku the tomboy of Bikanel, and he kind of liked it.

"Hey, wanna go annoy Benzo?" Rikku asked, breaking Gippal's train of thought.

"Huh? Sure... I bet I can make him cry before you can!"

She smiled. Things were back to normal between them already. "You're on!"

The two youths scrambled to the door of Benzo's shed, the poor man not knowing the hours of tormenting he was in for.

* * *

**Author's Notes**: Okay, I had this on my computer for a while now, but I just never got around to finishing it. The ending, I'm not so sure about (XD), but I hope you enjoyed it. By the way, _Tacdeho_ (the name of the lake) means _destiny_ in Al Bhed. 


End file.
